Race Report - Disney Princess Half Marathon

Another February has come and (almost) gone. There was a time when February was just another winter month - cold, dreary, sometimes snowy, always just kind of there; the second month of the year where nothing much happened. But in the past few years, that's changed; it's become a month to look forward to, with some pretty awesome events. In addition to my husband's birthday (which I've been celebrating with him for 12 years now), February also holds the Disney Princess Half Marathon, which, back in 2013, was supposedly going to be a once in a lifetime experience. It's turned into a yearly event for my friends and me - this year was our 3rd and if the conversations we had after are any indication, it's not going to be our last.

So how did it go?

Disney Princess Half Marathon - Sunday, February 22, 2015

There's one problem with a race like a half marathon in February - winter weather can make it really hard to train. Between cold temperatures, rain, snow, etc. it can be really hard to make it out on the training runs. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, a treadmill could solve those issues; but I'm not a big fan of feeling like a hamster in a wheel, expending great amounts of effort and literally getting nowhere.) Weather issues and a general lack of motivation once again led to arriving at race day slightly unprepared. But, as I told myself, if I could finish the Biggest Loser Half, with the monster cemetery hill in the middle, I could handle the Princess. It wouldn't be pretty and it definitely wouldn't be a PR for the distance, but I could do it. It's Disney; there's extra magic there.

Until getting on the bus on race morning, I think Becca and I (Jen ran the 10k the day before) were planning on starting in our own corrals and running our own races. But as we sat on the bus, with the moment of going our separate ways getting closer and closer, I didn't want to do it alone. This year, I didn't really care about or need to get character pictures or to finish in a fast time; I needed my friend by my side. So we stayed together.

reflections of Space Mountain

I won't go into details of each mile - suffice it to say, some were good, some not so good, some horrible. And we got through them all, step by step, one foot in front of the other; pulling each other through the hard parts; celebrating the good parts; stopping briefly for a picture or two with the wonderful, inspiring scenery.

A few years ago, I "wasn't meant to be a runner". Then one day, totally out of the blue, I had a Forrest Gump moment and just felt like running. 

Then I got the wild idea that I wanted to do a half marathon. 

In November 2011, I ran my first. 

In February 2015, in Disney World, with one of my bestest friends by my side, I ran my 10th.

Race Stats:

Finish Time: 3:33:24 (garmin); 3:33:18 (official)

Place: Overall - 16,594 of 20,182

(remember back at the start of this post when I said this race wouldn't be a PR for the distance? Well, it wasn't. But it was a PR for the race. Yep, best Disney Princess finish time yet. Woo hoo!!)

Race Report - Winter Series 2015

Oh my poor neglected blog - usually I do my race reports close to the day of the race, but I've been a bit of slacker on the writing front lately. But enough of that, let's get to the races.

Winter Series 5k - December 7, 2014
This was the race where everything went wrong - I forgot my earbuds; I forgot my Garmin. I thought I was doomed from the start. But I improvised.

I decided I would play my music anyway and share it with the other runners; as a friend said, if they didn't like it, they could just run faster (for the record, it wasn't very loud and I doubt too many others heard it). And without my Garmin, I had no way to keep track of run/walk intervals. So with my Christmas music playing from my phone's speaker, I decided I would run when I could and walk when I had to.

I ended up running more than I thought I would. Yes, I was slow and miles (minutes?) away from breaking my 5k PR, which I set at this race way back in 2011, but it went better than I expected.

And someday, someday, I'll set a new PR. Don't know when that will be, but probably won't be until I actually start seriously trying to train to do it instead of whatever it is I'm doing these days. ;-)

Race Stats:
Finish time: 32:44 (Nike+); 32:56 (official)
Pace: 10:32mpm (Nike+);
Place: 256 of 342

Winter Series 8k - January 4, 2015
Slightly rainy weather + no training = another race where I should have been doomed from the start (although I did have the gadgets with this time). I managed to run my run intervals at a decent speed and my walk intervals were slow enough to recover, but fast enough to not slow me down too much overall. I kept a pretty consistent pace and was happy to cross the finish line in under an hour, which was something I didn't think I'd be able to do.

Race Stats:
Finish time: 59:32 (Garmin); 59:37 (official)
Pace: 11:49 (Garmin)
Place: 266 of 317

Winter Series 10k - February 1, 2015
Weekends in February mean one of the days needs to be a long run day to get ready for the Princess Half. Therefore (when you've worked for lawyers, legal-speak sneaks into normal writing every now and then), I needed to get in a double digit run on one of the 2 days of this weekend. It didn't happen on Saturday, so I planned to break it up with a few miles in the morning and then the race on Sunday afternoon. That didn't happen either.

So I got to the race early and squeezed in 3.25 miles before it started. Thankfully, it was one of those "the longer I go, the better I feel" days, so the 6.2 miles of the race went really well. I came really close to negative splits on every mile, which is awesome and something I haven't done for a while. Not gonna lie, it was hard, and I pushed myself harder than I have in a long time to do it (which caused some concern for my mother (ever the mom and ever the nurse) when she decided she needed to check  my pulse after I finished; I felt fine but, well, she's my  mom (and a nurse) so... ;-) ) Anyway, I managed my 2nd fastest 10k time.

Race Stats:
Finish Time: 1:12:29 (Garmin); 1:12:41 (official)
Pace: 11:38mpm (Garmin)
Place: 231 of 281

Series as a whole
As you can see, the theme of this year's Winter Series was apparently "Races I signed up for but  neglected to train seriously for." The 10k was a little better training-wise, because being in February, it falls into the "OMG, the Princess Half is coming up fast!" training panic time frame that hits about mid-January and makes me start taking my running a little more seriously. (Still not seriously enough, but that's another story.)

Apparently I have enough of a fitness-base to pull off these races by the skin of my teeth, but I know that if I'd just work a little bit harder, they could go so much better. Maybe 2015 will be the year that I re-find my motivation and drive to do better. Hopefully.

Series Stats:
Finish Time: 2:45:14
Place: 177 of 221

I do it all for the hoodie... 

Race Report - Marshall Half Marathon

I had one goal for the 2014 Marshall Half Marathon - to get there on time. 

I'm only half kidding. Last year I grossly miscalculated how long it would take me to get to the race and find a place to park. I was almost literally running to the start line just in time for the start gun to go off. So this year, I vowed that that was not going to happen again. So I got up at o'dark thirty ( which was an hour earlier than usual because of the time change) and was in the car and on the road not much later. This craziness allowed me to arrive at the football stadium with more than an hour to spare. 

Sunday morning was the coldest morning in months, so I dressed in capris tights, warm long sleeve shirt, and leg warmers. 

While I knew I'd be fine while running, I'd be way cold if I stayed outside without moving around much. Luckily, one of the awesome perks of the Marshall race is the opportunity to park right at the start, so I was able to stay toasty warm in the car until almost start time.

The cannon went off and I was on the move. Just like in every race, thoughts of what have I gotten myself into started running through my head. It was a chorus of "this is gonna be tough; you are so not ready for this" competing with the more positive "you've got this; it's just one foot in front of the other" with a few "race day is so awesome!"'s thrown in. 

The mental games continued until mile 3 and the water stop at Harris Riverfront park. At this point, my Garmin conveniently decided to tell me its memory was full. Lovely. So I stopped to clear out the memory, deleting all the past runs that I had wrongly assumed had already been deleted and the first 3 miles of the race. My Nike+running app on my phone updated itself the week before the race and I still wasn't familiar with all the changes and how to get it to work the way I wanted it to, so I wasn't using it, and was just using the phone for some musical motivation. So with the Garmin having to start over and losing the first 3 miles, I had no way to personally track my progress and time over the whole race.   So with no way to really know what my time was, I basically just said "oh well, guess I'll just run."  I used the Garmin for intervals, but from that point on, I didn't pay much attention to how fast or slow I was or wasn't going. I just ran. 

If I felt like going fast, I did. If I felt like walking instead of running, I did. If I felt like singing along to my music, I did. It was a race run by what I felt like doing at any given point (not by what I thought I should be doing to finish in a certain time), which is a strategy I usually reserve for Disney races. And, like a Disney race, this one was fun. There was no pressure (self-imposed or otherwise). I enjoyed every step (even the painful ones after mile 10). 

Don't get me wrong, I like the challenge of trying to go faster; I enjoy the battle to beat the old time, the fight to be better, faster, stronger; there is certain kind of fun in that for me (if there weren't I wouldn't have done this 9 times). But this race was different. It was simply fun - The joy of running, of moving, of just being out there showed up.

While I doubt I'll employ this strategy with every race ( I'm thinking I'm too self- competitive to let the possibility of a faster, better, stronger, PR of a race elude me for too long), it was the right thing to do for this one. It reminded of why I like to run - because when you strip it down to the bare basics, when you take away all that makes it hard, it's just fun. And who doesn't like fun?

So how did I do? Well....

When it came right down to it, for my pre-race goal, I was just hoping for a finish - yes, there was a part of me that wanted it to be a fast finish, but mostly I just wanted to cross the line (and if I could do it in somewhere between 2:30 and 2:45, well that would be awesome). And I did - just under 2:45 (2:44:55, gun; 2:43:32, chip). 

If you want to over analyze the results (which of course, I've done) you may find that if I'd pushed and pressured myself, if I'd had a little less fun and more focus, I could've run harder and faster and maybe finished closer to last year, closer to beating that PR.  But that wasn't right for this race. Did I run the race I could have run? Nope.

I ran the race I needed to run. 

Race Stats

Marshall University Half Marathon

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Finish time - 2:44:55 (gun); 2:43:32 (chip)

Pace - 12:36mpm (gun); 12:29mpm (chip)

Place - 847 of 1,052 overall; 456 of 618 female; 75 of 105 age group

Race Report - Gritt's Fun Farm Run

When the directors of the Dirty Dog (the toughest race I'll ever love) announced that they were planning a fall trail run at Gritt's Farm, I was all "where do I sign up?" And with some coaxing and prodding, I got Marc to let me sign him up too.

So that's how we ended up standing amongst a crowd of other runners in the midst of the pumpkin pickin', playin' in corn kernels, slidin' down slides surrounded by hay, corn maze fun that is Gritt's Fun Farm on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

With little fanfare, the race was started and we took off. Marc, even though he hasn't run a race in a few years, is a faster runner than I am, especially on trails (I'm more of a fast walk trail hiker than a trail runner, even during a race), so it wasn't long before he had left me behind.  I was able to keep him in sight for most of the first downhill, but at one point I looked down to watch  my footing and when I looked up he was gone.  So I soldiered on on my own (figuratively speaking, as there were other runners all around), running slow, walking around the big puddles, and then climbing the first big hill.

And then we entered the maze...


The maze section - practically perfect

With the pre-race warning of "go slow in the maze or you will get lost",  I decided I'd be walking through the maze, so as not to miss any of the orange markers showing the way.  Not too far into the maze, I start seeing runners coming back towards me. I didn't know if they were lost or if the maze was an out & back.  I keep going, following the orange, chatting with another runner, when I look up, and there's Marc, in one of the groups of runners coming back through. "We're lost" he says. I thought about having him come with me, but in case he was actually on the right track, I didn't want him to back track. (and after he says he thought about having me come with him, but didn't want to cause me to cut the course short). So we ended up waving and each going our separate ways.  After many twists and turns, and a few "are we lost?" moments, my little group made our way out of the maze.

After the maze, I ran a bit and walked a bit and just letting the distance roll by as it would; I wasn't in a hurry, even though it was a race; I was just out to enjoy the day.  I found myself running alongside the same gentleman that I ran through the cemetery with at the Biggest Loser half, so I chatted with him for a bit, reminiscing about the horribleness of that hill.  I lost him at the water stop, so spent most of the rest of the race on my own - a few people a ways ahead of me, and some behind, but none really close by.

I had just passed the 4 mile mark when I heard sirens. Never a good thing to hear at a race, but since I hadn't seen Marc since we passed in the maze and had no idea where he was or how he was doing, I had a moment of worry.  With a quick prayer for him and whoever the injured party might be, I kept going, with  maybe a little bit of a quicker pace, just in case.

It wasn't long before I came upon a crowd of runners standing around and saw some medics heading down the trail.  I'll admit I had a moment of panic when I saw the runner on the ground, mistaking the runner's orange shirt for a red one, like Marc was wearing. But I soon realized that her shirt was orange and she was female, so therefore she was not Marc, and I relaxed a bit. With another little prayer for her, I continued on, because the last thing paramedics needed was one more person hanging around watching while they did their thing. Several others in the group left at about the same time I did, so I heard a bit about what had (or may have) happened (but in the interest of the runner's privacy (and because I don't really know), I'll not share).

I made my way up another tough up hill, back out onto the road, and made the final turn for the finish line, and realized my shoe was coming untied. We had parked the car right along the finish line approach, and when I saw its gate open, I knew Marc had finished safely. He met me with a smile, and said I was looking good. I handed him my water bottle, stopped to tie my shoe, and the headed off to the finish line.

Woo hoo! Another race finished! There was a bit of a crowd at the finish, so in the confusion, i didn't see the finish clock or remember to stop my garmin, so I didn't know what my time was.  I didn't realize my Garmin was still running until I got back to the car (after picking up my bag of treats, getting a drink of water, and standing around for a minute or so), so I don't have my own unofficial race time to share.  The Garmin also showed the race as being longer than 5 miles; it showed 5.6, including the wandering around after the finish and the walk back to the car.

So I'm guessing the actual distance it thinks I covered on the course was about 5.5 miles. Was the course long or were the satellite gods messing with me? A good time on a great course (whatever its distance), with a few added challenges thrown in for fun all add up to another race to put on my annual race calendar.

Race Stats:
Gritt's Fun Farm Run
Sunday, September 21, 2014, 2:00pm
5 miles

Me:
Finish time: 5.6 miles, 1:30:08  (garmin); 5 miles, 1:27:08 (official)
Place: 26 of 45 age group; 116 of 178 overall

Marc:
Finish time: 1:10:08 (official)
Place: 8 of 12 age group; 63 of 178 overall

Race Report - Biggest Loser Half Marathon

Not sure if this is actually a race report or a guide on how not to run a half marathon.

I went into Saturday's race totally and completely unprepared to do a half marathon. I hadn't run more than 3-4 miles in the same run since the Dirty Dog in May; hadn't run over 10 since since the Princess in February. I wasn't ready; I knew I wasn't ready; but I did it anyway.

I almost didn't. Back when I was still in the "debating whether or not to register" stage, they released the course map.  Said course map was terrifying - big ol' gigantic monster hill in the middle.  I realize that I live in the Mountain State (it's hard to find a course around here longer than a 5k or 10k that doesn't include a hill or two), but really, they had to choose that hill, of all hills?  "That hill" being the Spring Hill Cemetery hill.  I've lived here my entire life and never been up there; but I'd heard stories, seen pictures of runners attempting to conquer just part of it... My mental picture wasn't pretty. But with thoughts of "it can't be worse than White Hollow on the Dirty Dog can it?"* running through my head, I hit the submit registration button.

And registration is about where my preparation for the race stopped. For various reasons and excuses (some legitimate, most not) I skimped on my training.  Let me just say, if you're thinking about doing a half - don't do that.  Training is important.  Your body - your muscles, your joints, even your brain - it needs it.  Even if you've done one before; even if you've done seven, you need to train.

However, if you're going to run a race you're not really prepared for, a Biggest Loser Race is the one to do. While the pre-race banter betweeen the 2 guys on the stage can be a little over the top and annoying at times, it does have its motivational moments. Like when they remind you that it's not about winning; it's about being there; it's about trying; it's about starting; it's about finishing. The race atmosphere is definitely one of "you can do this!"

So with that thought, and my race day mantra of "Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up”* running through my head, I hit the course with my garmin set for 1:1 run/walk intervals and a new peppy playlist on the ipod.

Miles 1 through 4 were mostly flat and went really well.  At mile 4, we hit the dreaded hill.  Up, up, up and up some more.

Quotes from the hill:

• Runner 1: "this is ridiculous; i'm from Minnesota we don't have hills like this." 
• Runner 2: "Forget Boston; this should be Heartbreak Hill"
• Runner 3: "is this a trick? seriously? it goes higher?"
• Runner 4: "you gotta be kidding me?"
• Runner 5:  "What is this an 8 or 9 percent grade?"

For about 3 miles, we wandered up and up and through the cemetery. Call me morbid, but I love old cemeteries (this one's on the National Register of Historic places, so it's been there a while).  Looking at names and dates on headstones is fascinating for me; who were these people? what was their story? who did they leave behind? Looking around at all the stones and monuments took my mind off the scary hill; made it not so daunting. Despite the comments above (and my pre-race fears), I didn't have that much trouble with the hill. Granted I walked most of it; but the environment was distracting enough that I wasn't really thinking about the climb.

Elevation profile

No, my problems on the course started after I was off the hill and back on the flats.  At about mile 9, my legs decided they were done. They hurt - my hips, my thighs, my ankles, all were really unhappy with me (slightly baffled at why, with the rest of my legs so sore, my knees didn't join the party, but they were fine throughout.)  Running hurt; the transition between running and walking hurt; but walking itself wasn't quite as bad. So, I threw the run/walk out the window and just walked. Not wanting finish at a walk, I started running again when the banners and finish arch came in sight.

And ran across the that line. I did it.  Again.  Another half marathon done (#8). I showed up; I started; I finished...

Race Stats:
Biggest Loser Half Marathon
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Finish Time: 3:02:55 (garmin);  3:02:34 (official)
Pace: 13:55mpm
Place: 26 of 37 age group; 184 of 248, overall

*For the record, White Hollow is worse
*race day mantra quote by Dean Karnazes

Race Report - Dirty Dog 15k

Dirty Dog 15k Trail Run
Saturday, May 17, 2014

Ah, the Dirty Dog. The toughest race I've ever done. And probably, no not probably, definitely one of my favorites.  I run races not because I think I can win them, but because there's a small part of me that doubts my ability and thinks I can't. So, I run races to prove to myself that I can.

For me, each and every time I stand at the start line, no matter how many times I've been there before, I'm faced with a challenge.  The 5k is a time challenge - how fast can I do this?; the half marathon is a distance challenge - can I really go 13.1 miles?; the Dirty Dog is just a challenge - can I do this at all?

Dirty Dog Elevation Profile

The trails, the hills (the steep ups and the steep downs), and for this year, the mud, all added up to one heck of a challenge. I knew it when I got to the start line- this was going to take all that I had. So I gave it all that I had.  I met the challenge; I beat the challenge; The Dirty Dog did not defeat me again this year. I started and I finished.  I proved to myself, yet again, that I can do it.

Thoughts from various points of the race:

• Climbing Pigeon Roost - this isn't as hard as I remember it being.
• Heading down to Dunlop Hollow - I need new trail shoes - this is killing my toes
• On a rocky part of the descent - fellow runner says "we don't want to break any bones... well at least I don't"; no, breaking bones is definitely not high on my list of priorities for the day
• Heading up White Hollow - remind me again why I think this is fun?
• Still heading up White Hollow - this would be so much easier if I could breathe or if I was a mountain goat
• Almost to the top of White Hollow - I can't do this anymore; I can't go another step.
• And upon turning around and looking back down at what I had just climbed - I don't have a choice; I can't stay here, going back down would be harder than going up was, so forward is the only way to go.
• On Middle Ridge Road - this mud is annoying - my feet are either sticking in it or sliding on it.
• On Middle Ridge - I hear people, are they behind me or in front of me? Am I last?
• At the turn onto Johnson Hollow - the forest sign is spelled wrong; i'm pretty sure it's  "Johnson Hollow" and not "Johnon Hollow".
• Going down Johnson ("Johnon"?) Hollow - oh my feet.... oh my knees....  ouch ouch ouch. this really hurts.
• Still going down Johnson Hollow - Hey you're going the wrong way (to the 2 people who were going back up)
• Almost at the bottom - I hear music!  I did it!
• Coming out of the woods - I see the finish line!  i really did it!
• Heading towards the finish - There's my mom!  I really really did it!!
• Crossing the finish - I did it! I did it! I did it!  my feet really hurt, but i did it!

 

Race Stats:
Dirty Dog 15k Trail Run
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Finish Time: 2:34:04 (garmin); 2:34:09 (official)
Place: 252 of 277 overall; 29 of 32 age group

Race Reports - Komen 5k & Dog Jog 5k

Getting a little behind with my race reports.  Not a whole lot to say about the 5ks I ran this month, but here's a quick recap:

Saturday, May 3, 2014
Komen Race for the Cure 5k

Despite my good intentions to run more this spring than I did last spring, I didn't get out there quite as much as I hoped I would. When the half that I was going to run in April got cancelled, I lost my motivation (I do much better when I have something specific to train for). But I declared May to be the beginning of my summer of "better, faster, stronger," and resolved to get out and run, run, run. I knew I wasn't really in any shape to run the Komen 5k fast (for "fast" read "faster than I ran any 5ks in 2013"), but I was going to give it a try. It didn't happen, but that's ok; I didn't expect it to. I set my watch for 2:1 run:walk intervals, and just went out to see what would happen. The interval was just right, I could run at a decently fast pace for me (low 10s, high 9s) and know I had a rest break coming fairly soon. I kept my focus on myself, and didn't worry about what everybody else was doing, not caring who passed me or who I passed; I just did my thing and crossed the finish line.

Race Stats:
Komen 5k
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Finish Time: 34:07 (garmin); 33:48  (official)
Pace: 10:56mpm (garmin); 10:53 (official)


Saturday, May 10, 2014
Dog Jog 5k

Still not sure what happened with this one. It did not go anywhere near what I planned. It was hot, it was humid, the course was crowded, I wasn't ready; all factors that led to a slightly disappointing finish time.

Positive: the puppies and dogs that were there were cute. Adoptable, but I didn't bring any home (some day we'll get another, but not yet)

Race Stats:
Dog Jog 5k
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Finish Time: 36:30 (garmin); 36:34 (official)
Place: overall 73 of 2ll; 41 of 149 women; 10 of 41 in age group